What Mayor Daniel Reiman and other city council members have in mind for the site is a so-called "transit village." Mirroring other such efforts in Matawan/Aberdeen, South Orange and other communities around the state, such a project would combine commercial and residential development around a transportation hub.

In this case, the transportation hub largely doesn't exist, however, and would have to be created as part of the project. There is currently no active commuter rail service here, although an old rail line does exist, and passenger ferry service would be part of the scenario, according to local officials.

Besides being in need of remediation and subject to the variety of state assistance programs that would bring, the site is also within this city's urban enterprise zone, a status carrying a number of incentives for economic development. It also lies adjacent to a 17-acre site that is part of a $2.4 million waterfront renovation effort already underway in this industrial city of 20,000 in Middlesex County.

"This [vote] could signal the rebirth of our city's entire waterfront," Reiman said at the council meeting last week. "It offers a major opportunity for us to bring in significant new tax ratables, as well as new jobs and residents."

Among other things, the council's vote will enable the city to officially kick off its effort to secure a developer for the proposed redevelopment. It also gives the city the ability to condemn private property situated within the site.

The effort is slated to begin next month, when city officials plan to issue an RFP for potential developers. The proposal review process could begin by April, according to Reiman, and the intention is to have a developer and a general development plan in place by the end of the year.